Current Fishing Recommendations for the SmokiesIn conjunction with the article I wrote a couple of days ago about the changes in the way the trout are feeding, or those times when anglers claim the fish are not bitting like they were a few days ago, a couple of guys sent email asking for specifics about what to fish. I wish there was a simple one line answer to that question but there isn't. At the present time you can still catch trout feeding in the fast currents at times but more often you can't. To get into how to fish would involve going through each of the many species that are either hatching or getting ready to hatch and the techniques you should use for each one. I will give a quick rundown on the current situation.

The main mayflies that hatch in the seams adjacent to the fast water at the present time would be the Light Cahills and March Browns. The March Browns are not consistent at all at the time of the year. If either of these mayflies are hatching you will do well in the fast water fishing the way most anglers fish, using short up and up and across presentations.

The Sulphurs and Pale Evening Duns are also hatching but you won't find any trout feeding on them in the fast water. You will have to fish the slow to moderate areas of the streams which don't exist in plentiful quantities. The Green Sedges are also consistently hatching but only in moderate flows, not the fast water. You will find some Cinnamon Sedges also that are hatching in moderate flows but never in large quantities. If you find either of these caddisflies hatching, you should fish imitations of their pupae down and across with the fly surfacing in the slow water at the ends of the runs and riffles.

The Yellow Sally nymphs crawl out of the water to hatch right before and after dark each day. You need to fish a nymph close to the banks for your best odds of success starting late in the afternoon. If you find the adults laying eggs, you should be able to get into some action using a dry fly imitation but this only happens very late in the day just before dark. The Giant Blacks are hatching but they hatch and deposit their eggs during the night.

The bottom line to this is at the current time most of the hatches are occurring, or their nymphs or larvae holding, in the slow to moderate areas of the streams. If there are not any hatches occurring or about to occur, the rainbows will be holding in deeper, slow moving water, and the browns well hidden under cover. That's where you need to be placing a nymph.,If you don't find the Light Cahill hatching, or with less odds the March Browns hatching, you will have a difficult time catching very many trout in the fast water with nymphs or drys the normal way most anglers fish. That's why some anglers are complaining that "the fishing has slowed down" when in reality, its the methods they are using, not the trout.

New "Perfect Fly" Olive Baitfish Saltwater FlyAnother new fly pattern we developed is what I call the Olive Baitfish. Although this fly imitates a bunker or menhaden quite well, it also imitates many other species of baitfish found in saltwater bays, inlets, sounds and estuaries.

This fly was actually intended to imitate the Alewife. These baitfish are anadromous meaning they spend most of their life at sea but they run up into rivers and inlets and even enter lakes when they spawn. A large variety of fish feed on them including smallmouth bass in some cases. The dark backs are a blueish olive color at sea but pick up a green or olive tint when they enter freshwater areas with vegetation.

This fly also works in brackish waters where snook, redfish and speckled trout are commonly found at certain times of the year. There are around 2400 species of baitfish and many of them have an olive back. Often you will find olive back baitfish where you have lots of vegetation in the water. The fish naturally blend in with the grass and weeds. Olive is a favorite color for streamers that is used in this type of fresh, brackish and saltwater.

We have some guys in Maine that use this fly and it has also proven effective on snook in the Atlantic inlets of South Florida. We tie all of them using a stainless steel hook so anglers can fish any type of water they choose to fish..Check them out.